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Nunavut needs more, leaders tell Irwin

ARVIAT--Get over it.

That's the advice Finance Minister John Todd had for people-including his own colleagues in the Nunavut caucus-who are unhappy with the $150 million the federal government has set aside for the creation of Nunavut up until 1999.

"I think the $150 million is a done deal and we're going to have to live with that," he said at last weekend's Nunavut leaders' summit in Arviat. "Our chances of getting any more at this point is zero."

The Arviat meeting, dubbed "Countdown to '99" was a chance for Nunavut MLAs, Premier Don Morin, and delegates from Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Nunavut Implementation Commission to meet with Ron Irwin, the federal minister of Indian Affairs, to discuss key issues leading up to the creation of Nunavut in 1999.

The two-day meeting was originally closed to the public and members of the media. But after only a brief closed-door session Friday morning, the delegates decided to hold the remainder of the meeting in public.

Much of the Saturday morning session was dominated by talk about how the $150 million announced by Ottawa won't be enough to establish a decentralized government for Nunavut.

But Todd told delegates not to obsess about the $150 million start-up funding, but to concentrate instead on coming up with a common strategy for upcoming talks that will produce a new formula financing agreement for Nunavut and the western territory.

"Anything that isn't in the $150 million... that's where we're going to determine the level of financing for two new governments," Todd said.

The formula financing agreement will determine how much money Nunavut and the western territory will receive in transfer payments from the federal government after division in 1999. Todd will be in charge of negotiating the agreement with federal Finance Minister Paul Martin.

Still, delegates around the table said they are worried the federal government's funding for Nunavut fell far short of what will be needed.

NTI president Jose Kusugak likened creating Nunavut to a snowmobile trip and wondered if there was "enough gas" for the journey. Referring to the GNWT's deficit, Iqaluit MLA Ed Picco told the Irwin that he has to recognize the NWT needs more help from the federal government if Nunavut is to succeed.

"Somehow from the federal government, you have to see the precarious position we're in and help us out," Picco said. "I don't want to see my children and your children inheriting a debt in the Nunavut government that we cannot pay."

But Irwin said the GNWT has to come up with its own solutions-people have to stop relying on government to solve all their problems.

"That's the philosophy that's almost destroyed this country. That doesn't keep kids in school, that doesn't give people skills," he said. "Everyone thinks government has the answer."

Todd said, indeed, the GNWT will pull itself out of its financial mess.

"Let's be clear: I'm the finance minister and I'm going to solve the problem," Todd said.

"Ed's right in some ways," he said, referring to Picco, "but he does tend to over-dramatize."

Although Todd said the GNWT will solve its own problems, he also said that Nunavut and the western Arctic need a "champion" in the federal cabinet to make sure the federal government is sympathetic when it comes time to negotiate a formula financing agreement for the two new territories.

But Irwin said that Todd and the GNWT are better off dealing directly with the federal finance minister.

"What you're talking about, I deal with on a daily basis," Irwin said.

"I go into Paul Martin's office and say, 'I'm representing the poorest of the poor,' and he says, 'The last five ministers in here were representing the poorest of the poor too.'"

As for having a champion in the federal cabinet, Irwin said he's always lobbied hard for Nunavut.

"I am your best ally at the cabinet table," he said. "I'm the one showing them videos, I'm the one talking about Nunavut and don't you ever forget that, you little Scot," he said to Todd, prompting laughter from the delegates.

Irwin and the rest of the federal delegation left for Ottawa shortly after, and the mood among the delegates wasn't quite as cheery once they were gone.

"I don't know," Todd said later, "I'm not as optimistic as them guys who got on the plane and left early."

Arlooktoo "saddened" by Kusugak's comments

GNWT furious that Ottawa and NTI will build infrastructure

ARVIAT-A turf war has erupted between the GNWT and Nunavut Tunngavik over who should oversee the building of Nunavut's infrastructure.

As it stands now, Nunavut Tunngavik is negotiating a deal with Public Works Canada to manage the construction of Nunavut's infrastructure.

But the GNWT says it thinks that's a bad idea.

At last week's Nunavut leaders' meeting in Arviat, Deputy Premier Goo Arlooktoo said the GNWT already has the resources and the expertise to build Nunavut's infrastructure, and that any federal involvement would be a costly duplication of services.

"The GNWT is in the best position to carry out the management of additional infrastructure construction for Nunavut," he said Friday.

Why have the federal government come to the North and set up its own administration-only to dismantle it after 1999-when the GNWT already has a proven track record in managing northern construction? Arlooktoo asked.

In his April 30 announcements on how Ottawa will deal with building Nunavut, Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin said Public Works Canada will act as DIAND's agent in Nunavut infrastructure construction.

And his assistant deputy minister, John Rayner, said Public Works Canada and NTI are working on an "arrangement" through which most Nunavut's office buildings and staff houses would be constructed by Inuit and private developers in a system of guaranteed leases.

But Arlooktoo said he wants the federal government to reconsider its deal with NTI.

But NTI president Jose Kusugak wondered if there was another reason-other than money-behind the GNWT's opposition to the infrastructure deal between Ottawa and NTI.

"Assuming it's going to cost more doesn't tell us anything," he said, adding later, "Is this a really sneaky way by the deputy premier to unravel this arrangement we've worked so hard for?"

That comment prompted an interjection from Arlooktoo.

"I don't appreciate you saying I'm trying to sneak around and do something different," he said.

After Kusugak finished his comments, meeting co-chair John Ningark told the group it was a good time to end the meeting for the day.

"It's getting a little hot in here," Ningark said.

In an interview shortly after, Arlooktoo reiterated that the GNWT is simply concerned that the NTI-federal government deal will be too costly.

"The deal between NTI and Public Works Canada will be more expensive and they'll build less," he said.

"I also want to make sure opportunities to get contracts and let facilities are available to all Inuit businesses, not just birthright corporations," he added.

When the meeting started Saturday morning, Arlooktoo reacted to Kusugak's comments in a 15-minute speech.

"My first reaction last night, I was, to tell the truth, quite upset and angry," he said.

"Now, I'm quite sad that the organization representing my interests as a beneficiary and the interests of my children would make a suggestion that I, as a member of the government, would circumvent the rights of Inuit."

"I will not get drawn into some personality fight and start screaming up and down because I realize what we need now is leadership," he added later. "If we don't put a lot of these differences aside, we're dead in the water."

In an interview Friday night, Kusugak said shutting out Inuit businesses might not be the GNWT's intent, but that would be the result if the territorial government took over managing the construction of Nunavut's infrastructure.

"I respect that they weren't trying to take it away, but the outcome would have done exactly that," he said. "No doubt, they [the GNWT] would slowly start pushing us out."

Kusugak added that all Inuit-owned businesses will have access to infrastructure contracts.

"We never said it would be just the birthright corporations doing this," he said.

Picco frustrated in crusade for open government

Iqaluit MLA Ed Picco wants the GNWT to publicize what it spends on untendered, negotiated contracts, as well as the earnings of those government employees who make more than $100,000.

IQALUIT--Iqaluit MLA Ed Picco says he's starting to get the feeling that he's standing alone in some of the battles he's waging in the legislative assembly.

This week, Picco introduced a motion that would urge the GNWT to publicly table detailed information about the GNWT's awarding of sole-source and negotiated contracts greater than $5,000. The motion also calls on the government to publish information about employees who are making more than $100,000 per year.

After getting jeered and interrupted while talking about his motion, Picco called for a recorded vote.

But only Jake Ootes, Jane Groenewegen, Vince Steen, and Kevin O'Brien voted with Picco on the motion. No one voted against it, but 17 MLAs--including all eight members of cabinet-abstained from voting.

In an interview Tuesday, Picco said he's tired of being derided because he prefers to discuss things in the assembly rather than in closed caucus meetings.

"My feeling, for the record, is that things should be discussed in the open and not behind closed doors," he said from Yellowknife.

"When 17 people abstain on a vote, it's not very nice."

Picco says it's not the first time he's been snubbed by his fellow MLAs. During his reply to Finance Minister John Todd's budget last week, several MLAs got up and left the assembly chamber. Speaker Sam Gargan had to call them back in them because there weren't enough MLAs in the chamber to continue debate.

During an earlier debate on the contract issue, Picco told MLAs that he's not on a witch hunt: he said he just wants to fulfill his election pledge to fight to have the government more open, accountable and transparent to the public.

"Mr. Speaker, I'm not asking these questions for PR purposes or to pursue a vendetta. During my campaign I said that the government had to be accountable, thus this line of questioning," Picco told MLAs last week.

The issue began last week when Picco repeatedly urged Premier Don Morin to table all information about sole-source contracts and negotiated contracts given out by the GNWT.

This week, Morin answered that anyone willing to pay $9 dollars can get that information. Morin says the GNWT has a report with information about all contracts worth more than $5,000.

"The report also identifies whether the contractor is northern or southern. The most recent version of this report has just been sent out under cover letter from the chairman of the Financial Management Board, the Honorable John Todd," Morin told MLAs.

Ed Picco's open government motion

Here's the motion introduced by Iqaluit MLA Ed Picco to have the GNWT make all information about its expenditures available to the public-especially information about negotiated contracts and how much senior civil servants are paid. (From the unedited version of Hansard.)

MR. PICCO: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories is responsible for the expenditure of public funds provided to them under the appropriation authority of the Legislative Assembly;

AND WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories has a responsibility to be fully accountable for the manner in which funds are expended;

AND WHEREAS the responsibility for accurately reporting the expenditures of public funds lie with the Government of the Northwest Territories;

AND WHEREAS certain expenditures of the Government of the Northwest Territories are not available publicly;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that this Legislative Assembly requests the Executive Council to consider amending the Financial Administration Act to require the reporting in the Public Accounts of all sole-source and negotiated contracts in those amounts of $5,000 or more in a fiscal year;

AND FURTHER, that the Executive Council table on an annual basis a list of all contracts entered into by the Government of the Northwest Territories in those amounts of $5,000 or more in a fiscal year; AND FURTHERMORE, that the Executive Council consider introducing legislation that would require the public disclosure of the salary and benefits paid in respect of employment in the public sector to employees who receive remuneration of more than $100,000 a year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr. Picco. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Picco.

MR. PICCO: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the past several days, people have asked me why I was trying to get the negotiated and sole-source contracts tabled in this House. Mr. Speaker, I was asked who was I trying to get, what company was I trying to implicate.

There could be nothing further from the truth, Mr. Speaker. I believe that public money spent by this government should be accountable to the people. I think that the residents of the NWT should know what contracts were let, why and how much. Accountability, Mr. Speaker, accountability. When the facts are on the table, then and only then can informed debate take place.

Transparency, Mr. Speaker, transparency. How often have I heard it in this House? When the public and MLAs have access to a list of sole-source and negotiated contracts, the people of the NWT will be able to judge if particular projects or, for that matter, purchases were done at a premium.

During my election campaign - it's right here, Mr. Speaker, in one of my pamphlets - I said that, as a first step, more accountability and public disclosure from all levels of government is needed. That was back in September, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is not a witch hunt or a vendetta, this is money spent by a public government and given that it is public government, it has to be accountable to the public.

If it is not public, then where they are no collusions or favouritism, some people might perceive this as so. Other jurisdictions in this country publish said information. Although we are in a fiscal crisis in the NWT, can we not afford the few dollars it will cost to publish the requested information?

Mr. Speaker, what Member in this House will say no to the public who want to see this, the 13th Assembly, doing government differently? That is why we were elected and that is why I have moved this motion. Accountability and transparency in the way this government does business will show the people of the NWT that the 13th Assembly is accountable and transparent.

I would request that all Members of this House respect the wishes of the public and publish all sole-source and negotiated contracts as moved in the aforesaid motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Hire more aboriginal people, Irwin tells GNWT

ARVIAT-The GNWT needs more action-not more money-if it wants to train Inuit to work in Nunavut's government, Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin says.

The NWT's Municipal and Community Affairs minister, Manitok Thompson, told delegates at last weekend's Nunavut leaders' summit that the $39.8 million set aside by the federal government is not enough.

But Irwin said the GNWT should do a better job training and promoting its aboriginal employees instead of asking the federal government for more money.

"Why isn't there a proactive program actively moving these people up?" he asked.

"There's nothing magical about this," he added. "You just go out and do it."

He blasted the GNWT for having so few aboriginal employees in management positions.

GNWT statistics from 1994 show that there were 42 aboriginal managers out of a total of 364 managers in the public service. That works out to 11.5 per cent.

The GNWT, Nunavut Tunngavik and the Nunavut Implementation have agreed that by 1999, 50 per cent of senior management jobs and 50 per cent of all other positions in the Nunavut government should be staffed by Inuit.

But meeting that goal will cost considerably more than the $39 million provided by Ottawa, Thompson said. Assuming the Nunavut government has 600 headquarters jobs, the GNWT estimates the cost of training Inuit between now and 1999 to be $71 million.

Thompson said the federal government's pledge doesn't take into account that the GNWT is having to make due with smaller federal transfer payments, which in turn has caused the GNWT to make cuts to education.

"This argument doesn't consider that the so-called status quo the $39.8 million is supposed to build upon is being eroded by federal cuts to the GNWT grant," she said.

Thompson and other delegates from the GNWT and Nunavut Tunngavik stressed that people should be able to take training programs in their home communities. However, the federal government hasn't provided enough money in order to build the training facilities necessary for that, NTI second vice-president Raymond Ningeocheak said.

"We feel the [federal] funding is not adequate because we don't really have the facilities and the training programs to properly train the people as yet," Ningeocheak said in Inuktitut.

The training money will be managed through a Nunavut human resources plan to be produced by Ottawa, the GNWT and NTI. The plan hasn't been released yet, but the GNWT is saying that it would like to have the lead role in training Nunavut's future public servants.

"Who is better than northerners working with northerners?" Premier Don Morin said in an interview Saturday.

Morin also defended the GNWT's track record for promoting its aboriginal employees, saying the government has programs in place to rectify the small number of aboriginals in management positions.

"You must also understand that minister Irwin doesn't understand the realities of the North-he's from Sault Ste. Marie," Morin said. "And I wouldn't judge people or make those comments unless I fully understood the situation."

GNWT staff housing tenants getting new landlords

The territorial government is accelerating its policy of getting out of staff housing-that means a lot of government employees in Iqaluit and the Baffin region will either own their own houses, or end up dealing with new landlords.

IQALUIT-If you're a GNWT staff housing tenant in Iqaluit, now might be a good time to either move out or buy your own house.

That's because the territorial government is giving up its leases on at least 150 staff housing units this year, and plans to get out of staff housing in Iqaluit, and most of the Baffin region's small communities, as soon as possible.

"There is now a huge move towards home ownership," says Peter Scott, the district manager of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. "Right now on our list of potential homeowners, there's more than 50 names."

Local housing associations and authorities now have the job of doing property management and maintenance for the GNWT's shrinking stock of staff housing.

But because the Iqaluit housing authority doesn't yet have the resources to do that work, the NWTHC district office is doing it for them.

In an April 11 letter to all GNWT staff housing tenants, Scott said the GNWT is not renewing several leases with private landlords through which the GNWT provides housing to its employees.

Those leases are:

• Apartments 105, 108, 205, 208, 305, and 308 in the Ivavik building, expired March 31 this year;
• Apartments 102, 103, 204 and 304 in the Ivavik building, to expire July 31, 1996;
• All GNWT apartments in the six-storey high-rise, to expire October 31, 1996;
• All GNWT apartments in the eight-storey high-rise, to expire December 31, 1996;
• All "white row housing" units, from the 100 to 400 block to expire December 31, 1996.

Scott says other GNWT staff housing leases in Iqaluit will either expire March 31, 1999 or later. The last long-term lease will expire in 2011, Scott said.

"There are quite number of leases that we have renewed until 1999," Scott said. "There will be a diminishing supply of staff housing available until then."

As for what employees can do if they're living in expired GNWT staff housing, Scott says they have several options.

He said an employee could either opt to stay in the unit and pay rent directly to building's owner, or apply to move into another staff housing unit that the GNWT still owns or leases.

But for a lot of people, home ownership is becoming a more attractive option, Scott says.

And he says that's despite the fact that most GNWT employees have suffered pay cuts, and don't know if they'll keep their jobs in the future.

"Interest in home ownership is going up, even though employment stability is uncertain," Scott said. "Most people have to accept that after 1999 they won't be working for the GNWT-they'll be working for the government of Nunavut."

For employees interested in home ownership, one option is to buy GNWT-owned staff houses that have been put up for sale.

Scott said the next round of staff housing sell-offs in the Baffin will likely include detached units in the small communities, the "brown" row housing units in Iqaluit, and some fourplexes in Iqaluit.

The GNWT's current acceleration of its staff housing sell-offs, a policy that's confirmed by statements in several cabinet documents, runs against what the Nunavut Implementation Commission is recommending.

In its Footprints in New Snow report, the commission said the GNWT should stop selling its staff houses until a comprehensive housing policy for Nunavut is developed.

And in another report on staff housing released September, 1995, the commission says it supports the idea of developing a private housing market in Nunavut.

But they also say the Nunavut government will need adequate staff housing for its employees.

"The commission fully believes, however, that a supply of adequate and affordable housing will be essential for the staff of the Nunavut government and that the government must have the appropriate programs and financial support in place to ensure housing is available.

The report goes on to say that the Nunavut government should proved leased accommodation to its employees, while providing help to employees who want to buy or build their own houses.

NTI should apologize to employee, Kango says

IQALUIT--Natsiq Kango says executive members of Nunavut Tunngavik should apologize to her executive assistant who is on special leave without pay from the organization pending the outcome an investigation into his activities.

Kango, the Inuit land claim body's secretary-treasurer, says that apology could help clear the air over the handling of a complaint made against Cecil Clarke.

"NTI executive should get together and come out in the open and inform all the beneficiaries about what they did wrong within NTI organization. They should, to the public, apologize for what they did to Cecil. I am committed to take that apology to the public," Kango said in an interview Wednesday.

Kango says that she suspects the allegations against Clarke are political in nature.

"I have not been contacted, or consulted or informed of the accusations or allegations that are being made."

The issue of the employee's activities was first talked about publicly at NTI's board meeting in Ottawa in April.

Kango says that during that board meeting, NTI president Jose Kusugak announced that he and first vice-president James Eetoolook were meeting for lunch with Nunatsiaq MP Jack Anawak to talk about an NTI employee allegedly using land claim money for other purposes related to the Progressive Conservative Party.

In an interview this week, Cecil Clarke said that the next day, Kusugak approached him and said he wanted to meet privately with him. Kango also attended that meeting.

Clarke said that Kusugak told him that he had received two letters about Clarke's activities with the Progressive Conservative Party.

Clarke said Kusugak told him that he and Eetoolook had met with Anawak, and that Clarke was now being investigated for allegations about his activities.

"That Mr. Anawak specifically named Mr. Clarke, is what the president said to me," Clarke said.

After talking with Kusugak, Clarke said he then talked with NTI's legal counsel. After that meeting, Clarke said he agreed to hand over his laptop computer, written files and documents to NTI's legal counsel.

Clarke said he hopes that it wasn't Anawak who was the source of the complaints against him.

"I dearly hope that my federal representative in the Parliament of Canada would not undertake such activity," he said.

Kango said that at last week's Nunavut leaders' meeting in Arviat, she asked Anawak whether it was he who made the accusations against Clarke.

She said Anawak said he didn't make the accusations, and that it was Kusugak who called him about the issue.

"I believe when Jack Anawak told me that as an MP for Nunatsiaq he has no right to make those accusations," Kango said. "I believe him."

In an interview last week, Nunatsiaq MP Jack Anawak said he decided to stay out of the matter. "I consider it as none of my business as a member of Parliament. But because it's an internal NTI matter I chose to stay out of it," Anawak said.

Anawak wasn't available for comment this week to reconfirm his earlier statements.

Kusugak was travelling this week and could not be reached by Nunatsiaq News.

But in an interview last week, Kusugak said that the organization had a duty to investigate the allegations made by a beneficiary.

Some of the concerns over Clarke's activities involve his travel to functions related to the Progressive Conservative party.

But Kango said Clarke is her executive assistant, and is accountable to her. She also says that she authorized Clarke's travel.

She said part of that work involved setting up meetings with politicians in southern Canada, including Progressive Conservative MP Elsie Wayne. Last year, Wayne asked a question in the House of Commons about Ottawa's commitment to naming Iqaluit as the capital of Nunavut.

Clarke referred additional questions about his situation to his lawyer Bronwyn Shoush, of the law firm Matheson and Company in Edmonton, Alberta. Shoush wasn't available for comment by our press-time.

But Clarke said that although he has legal counsel, he hasn't initiated any type of legal action against Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

"None, whatsoever," Clarke said.

As for the beneficiaries, Kango says these types of disputes get in the way of NTI's work implementing the land claim.

"I will not tolerate this. I will stand up for my rights and I will stand up for my beneficiary members. They don't need this crap. They need the future."

The Raglan mine: boom or doom for Salluit?

SALLUIT--Elder Jimmy Kakayuk says that at first he worried about environmental damage from Falconbridge's mining development at Raglan, but now he's convinced of the company's desire to be as careful as possible.

Yet, Kakayuk wasn't impressed by the $350 cheque he got last autumn, part of the compensation money from the Raglan agreement that was handed to every resident. It seemed a bit like a pay-off. "What did I do to deserve this?" asks Kakayak.

The first $1 million of the $75 million compensation package was split between Salluit, Kangiqsujjuaq and other affected communities.

But despite the promises of money and proper environmental management, there's still uncertainty around what the communities will face during the 20-year lifespan of the mine.

George Berthe, who has lived in Salluit while working for Taqramiut Nipingat Inc., fears higher levels of social problems.

Although workers from the South are not supposed to visit the neighbouring communities, Berthe believes that there will be contact, leading perhaps to more drug use, more teenage pregnancies, and perhaps even violence. Relations between the mainly francophone mine workers and Inuit were also tense during the referendum period.

Berthe is the newly-appointed assistant to Johnny Peters, the Makivik Corporation vice-president in charge of renewable resources. In spite of provisions for monitoring in the Raglan Agreement, he is worried about how damage to the environment can be measured by Inuit.

"The only time Inuit go out extensively on the land is in winter and we're in snowmobiles. What covers debris and garbage better than snow? he says.

Salluit Inuit train for Raglan mine jobs

SALLUIT, Nunavik--Down at the former restaurant in Salluit, a group of avid students have been following a two-year professional cooking course.

Two are enthusiastically cutting up onions and potatoes for a salad, while another mashes eggs for sandwich filling. The finishing touches of whipped cream are then added to a pie for dessert.

As part of this course, the class has been learning about making balanced menus and reading recipes. When participants master all aspects of cooking, jobs will be waiting for them at the Raglan mine site.

One student, in fact, has already worked at the mine's huge kitchen, and will be returning to work there this summer.

"I need certification," says Ida Angutigirk, "And I need more money! That's why I'm in the course."

Only last May, the Quebec government gave the mining giant Falconbridge Ltd. the go-ahead to develop the Raglan nickel mine site located between Salluit and Kangiqsujuaq. Now, only a year later, serious work has begun at Raglan, and new opportunities for qualified employees are multiplying.

A heavy equipment operators course recently graduated eight out of 14 participants, and a mechanics course is underway. Employment and training officer Barbara Papigatuk says interest for all the courses is high.

To date, she has also received 248 applications for work at the mine. During 1995, 560 employees overall were working in some capacity at the site. About 90 Inuit were employed as cooks, labourers, drivers or clerks, but only three of the jobs were full-time.

Numbers for Inuit employment fell short of the 20 per cent that Falconbridge agreed to aim for in the Raglan Agreement signed last year.

Falconbridge has since hired an Inuit employment and training officer, Apilie Qumarluk of Kangiqsujuaq, to work on improving the situation.

A new pre-employment pilot project is also planned in May for graduates of the training course, to make sure future employees at the mine know what lies in store for them. This program wants to avoid the high turnover rate experienced at Nanisivik Mines near Arctic Bay.

At the same time as efforts are being made to reach individuals and help them make the most of Raglan's employment possibilities, Salluit and Kangiqsujuaq are also looking to link up with southern-based companies to make big money.

Around $75 million in compensation is already guaranteed over the next 20 years as part of the Raglan agreement. This money can now be used as security by the local development corporations to invest in joint ventures that could generate revenues upwards of $120 million. (Petrol distribution is one of the most potentially lucrative ones)

"With joint ventures we have three basic objectives," explains Steve Grasser of the Kativik Regional Development Corporation. "One is to get a return on our investment, another is to maximize Inuit employment, the third is the transfer of technology, to be able to acquire the skills, the managerial skills."

The Raglan Agreement guarantees priority to Inuit enterprises after the development stage of the mine is finished. Although Grasser says some companies have tried "to drape themselves in the mantle of Inuit," partnerships with reputable companies from the outside are being given priority.

"It's important to involve yourself with winners, rather than something that glitters," says Grasser. "The streets here will not be paved with gold, but hopefully we will be providing good employment opportunities for people that will add up to a sense of mobility and skills."

But this economic progress has environmental and social costs.

"You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs," says Dr. Stephen Hodgins, the director of public health for Nunavik.

Possible contaminants and pollutants may be stirred up by the mine's construction as well as by the production and transport of nickel.

The Deception Bay area is particularly at risk from airborne particles and effluents (waste water) from the nickel extraction process that can leave behind substances like arsenic, chromium, cobalt and lead.

And concern for the fragile environment around a new provincial park is also surfacing. The park would surround the huge naturally-formed crater called Pingaluit.

Formed by the explosive impact of a meteorite 1.4 million years ago, the crater-shaped lake has exceptionally pure water. The water is so clear and soft that researchers have used it to study atmospheric fall-out of trace elements.

Wildlife that provides country foods could also be affected by contaminants. "But I'm more concerned about people over-reacting and decreasing consumption of country foods than about actual exposure to contaminants," says Dr. Hodgins.

Hodgins also said that tuberculosis could be a problem for Inuit working the mines.

"We have a lot of people in the region who at some point have been exposed to TB, and when you put previous TB exposure with mineral dust, there's a greater risk of tuberculosis reactivation." says Hodgins.

Nunavik health authorities in Kuujjuaq are working with Falconbridge to develop coordination between the mine's health services and Tulattavik Hospital Centre. They're also drawing up emergency plans for medevacs. And in case of a major accident, Iqaluit is being looked at for evacuation of injured.

Letter to the Editor

How not to do journalism

In reading your editorial of April 26, 1996, I had to ask myself, "How have we insulted you?"

Criticism is fair and always part of the process in this business and one learns to take it in stride as part of the job and territory. But this editorial, written by a Mr. JB (or is it Ms.?, Mrs.??) is, in my opinion, an outright abuse of journalistic expression.

Editor's note: As Mr. Nungak is well aware, it's Mr. Jim Bell.)

Your writer obviously knows little of what he/she opinionates about. Brute ignorance is dangerous in this context because readers might actually be misled to believe that what is written is true.

I forgive your writer on this count because he/she has certainly never been to our territory, or took the time or trouble to talk to leadership from all sides to get basic facts straight.

It is an example of how not to do journalism: to know so little of what one writes and editorializes about, and pretends to be credible about it. There are some things you simply cannot fake.

The first half of the editorial is devoted to describing the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement as the greatest piece of crap to ever be churned out of the land claims process.

If I am putting words in the author's mouth, I am doing it consciously, because that is what I understood the description to mean.

For somebody so convinced, I have often determined that it is futile to attempt to unconvince such an opinion holder. So I won't waste ink and space to try to catalogue the ways in which the JBNQA is not a piece of crap, or, in the words of your writer, "an old fashioned rip-off, a land grab, just like the infamous numbered treaties."

What I have to say about this, however, is said from experience: as one who helped negotiate the agreement, as one who lived under a pre-agreement era which, looking back, seems a weird warp in time.

From about the mid-1960s to 1975, our territory was administered by two levels of government. Even in the tiniest of villages, there was a federal school and a provincial school, a federal administrator and a provincial agent.

We were over-governed, to say the least, but with absolutely no say or influence in how we were governed. Even the names of our communities were bandied about from English to French on official maps until the JBNQA, deficiencies and all, became an instrument to have the Inuktitut names officially recognized.

This agreement was negotiated during a construction frenzy. The bulldozers were bulldozing, and rivers were being dammed. Canadian courts ruled against aboriginal rights (recall the Calder [Nishga'a] and Baker Lake cases).

There was no such thing as a federal land claims policy, nor was there any means to deal with a claim. It was the pre-Constitution era.

There was no Section 35 recognition of aboriginal rights and title. On top of that, the government of Quebec is never easy to negotiate with, full stop.

Despite all this, we managed to negotiate what to us has been a workable agreement. In its own way, it has furthered the aboriginal cause and helped other aboriginal groups to obtain better, more complete and fairer agreements.

Criticism of the type offered by Professor Peter Cumming does not bother or faze me one damn little bit. He and others like him have never had to walk any distance in my sealskin boots. He knows not what it is to live in an Arctic territory (Nunavik) trapped in a non-Arctic jurisdiction (Quebec) and the circumstances which this misfortune of history produces and causes.

Yes, we do have problems similar to the ones that exist in all areas of the Inuit homeland, and we are continually challenged to wrestle with these. It is not a perfect world, but, on the whole, I believe we have done pretty well with this piece of crap called the JBNQA.

We are even today using what we attained in it as a springboard to gain even more than the sum of its parts. It is very easy for armchair critics from far away to dump on this agreement and characterize it as the greatest sell-out in land claims history.

Such people would do well to spend at least a month in our communities and region and talk to anybody who may have something to say about the JBNQA and its effects on peoples' lives. I challenge your writer to do just such a thing, and then write another editorial about his findings.

Your writer's allusion to the dissident movement, the citing of Tamusi (not Tumasi) Qumak's name, and the equation of ITN and the FCNQ as bitter foes of Makivik has me scratching my head.

The editorial's description was true at one point in the past, but the writer's ignorance attempts to pass this dated snapshot as still present-day reality. The former dissident communities are now fully represented in all major regional bodies created by the JBNQA.

The only organizations they have not embraced as yet are landholding corporations. Tamusi Qumak spent the last years of his life working vigorously towards reconciliation. That he was so well respected by all sides was in a way responsible for the healing of the divisions caused by the signing of the JBNQA, which continues even today, undetected by you.

You would know this if you read Makivik News instead of dumping all over it as a corporate mouthpiece. It is a corporate quarterly of record. Nothing more, nothing less.

Having Mr. Qumak stuck as having led an opposition movement does not do justice to his memory.

As for Makivik and the Co-op Federation being "bitter foes, especially in business," I can only say how idiotic and baseless a statement!

Whoever you are, you have never been to our respective offices, or talked to the leaders. It leaves me guessing that you are basing this assertion on an accompanying Nunatsiaq News article by Jane George (Co-ops battle over fuel continues in Nunavik).

For you and Ms. George, most of the facts reported in that story are incorrect. Without getting encyclopedic, let me straighten you out by laying it out this way:

Although the LHC's (Landholding Corporations) were created by the JBNQA, and Makivik does have a role to protect the integrity of Inuit rights contained in it, the LHC's are independent corporations, legally existent in their own right. Makivik provides them administrative support, but they make their own decisions.

The Salluit LHC, composed of elected Inuit leaders, has the support of the Inuit of Salluit. Furthermore, the municipality of Salluit supports the decision of the LHC with regards to this issue. Neither Makivik nor the government of Quebec have a role to play in the decision, which is a strictly local one.

The Landholding Corporations' sole assets are the lands they hold for the community. As such, these communities will negotiate for community purposes the best terms to ensure that any and all benefits stay in the community.

Your patronizing attitude towards Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. is also quite amazing! (You hear this, Jose Kusugak?) Pretending to know what's best for NTI, you have the gall to imply instructions to this organization on how to conduct its business.

You would have them second-guessing Makivik's actions to avoid what you perceive for them as conduct unbecoming of an Inuit land claims organization. Since your criticism of Makivik is so off-base, I can only advise Jose and his colleagues to avoid getting their advice from editorials such as yours. They would be expending energy needlessly to avoid the evils you pin at the feet of Makivik.

This is a burden I am certain that NTI can do without, they having a very full plate working to implement their land claims agreement. As I said upon their signing that document, "The easy part is over, and the hard part begins."

As to your description of Makivik as a brute force bully intent on "putting Inuit-owned businesses out of business," whose "politicians are verging on a dangerous abuse of political power," who " had better clean up its act," and "has turned Nunavik into a 'feudal state'," this is simply absurdity upon absurdity.

If you had done any elementary research, you would find that Makivik has been involved in the pursuit of self-government in one way or another from Day One. One would conclude from your twisted logic that we have already tainted this exercise beyond all hope and reason, and there is nothing but despair on the horizon. You know not what you talk about here.

Makivik is leading the negotiations to create a Nunavik government. This is a complex tri-partite process further complicated by a political agenda in which we as Inuit have to pronounce and assert ourselves: the Quebec sovereignty issue.

The exercise involves sorting out matters of efficient and effective governance of the Nunavik Territory by Inuit. We are dealing with the devolution, amalgamation, merging, and mitosis of powers and jurisdictions between various levels of government. Never easy.

The political process, in this case, and in these times very often requires political finesse. Simplifying it down to absolutes such as Makivik "bad" and others "good" does a gross disservice to the readers, who deserve better than such absurd idiocy.

As to how appallingly Makivik treats journalists, this was truly a revelation to me. I often talk to a Mr. Todd Phillips, editor of Nunatsiaq News, and he has never sounded appalled to me.

I am constantly interviewed by journalists from all manner of agencies and I get along very adequately with almost all of them. Between us, there exists a certain respect and civility made natural by mutual need.

Perhaps you are bent out of shape by how we conduct our annual general meetings. In them, we often (always politely and with due notice) ask journalists to leave during certain segments of internal discussion. Makivik is a beneficiaries' organization, and certain items on our agenda are strictly beneficiaries' business. There is absolutely nothing unusual in holding in camera sessions on these.

Our system of representation ensures that beneficiaries in our communities are adequately informed of matters discussed in these closed (to journalists) segments of our AGM.

Besides, the corporate leadership always makes sure that the media is briefed on decisions or subject matter resulting from such sessions. If this is the source of appallment by journalists who dislike such treatment, I'm sorry; you will simply have to get used to being appalled.

The editorial of April 26 has provided the readers of Nunatsiaq News with a useful example of how not to do journalism. We hope they have been somewhat enlightened by this reply.

As for the poor soul who penned the editorial, get your basic facts straight before releasing your venom.

Zebedee Nungak
President
Makivik Corporation

Editorial

When enough is enough

It seems nobody wants the drunks who spill out of Iqaluit's bars and restaurants.

The bar staff haul them out and carry them to cabs because they no longer want them. But the cabbies don't want them, either. They say it's not worth $3.50 to find out where the drunks live, escort them to their doors, and make sure they get inside safely.

When the cabbies end up with people who are in really rough shape, they take them directly to the RCMP drunk tank for the night. But the police say they don't want the drunks either.

The RCMP's sober-up hotel accommodated more than 1,000 drunks last year alone.

So who does want them?

Their children who are at home waiting for them.

One of those children once came to the Zoo, er, that's now the Tulugaq Bar, and told bar manager Bill Strickland that he had to take care of him for the night because he was the one who got his parents drunk.

Strickland gave the youth, then about 13, somewhere to sleep. A few months later, Strickland says the boy killed himself. A few months later, the boy's mother killed herself.

Strickland told that sad tale to cab drivers and RCMP officers during a lively meeting held earlier this month to talk about Iqaluit's booze problems.

There were a lot of accusations made, fingers pointed, and excuses made. After listening quietly for a couple of hours, RCMP officer Lew Phillip took direct aim at part of the problem-greed.

People can make a lot of money from people with problems.

When privately-owned bars or restaurants overserve to make a little more money, it's unfortunate, but not surprising. They are in business to make money. The only way to really control them is through tougher enforcement of the existing liquor laws. Until there is a stiff financial penalty imposed for abuses, nothing will really change.

But why on earth should a non-profit private member's club like the Royal Canadian Legion be overserving? They don't have a profit motive, because any money they make here has to stay here.

When we hear reports that an upstanding community-oriented facility with a legacy of honour and tradition, like the Royal Canadian Legion, is regularly overserving customers in a community already choking on the excesses of alcohol abuse-what can be done?

Probably not much. You just can't criticize the Legion in a town like Iqaluit where they do so much good work. Every year, they shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars on worthwhile causes.

To suggest that they sometimes overserve customers and that the RCMP and others have to clean up the mess after them, is of course, something you just don't talk about in Iqaluit.

Look at the new roof we built, the elders facility, the cadet hall, the donations, the donations, the donations, they say. Those donations also flow endlessly into the Legion's cash registers from many people whose fridge lights illuminate empty shelves.

Even the Anglican church, against the wishes of some of their members, had to go to the Legion with cap in hand to get money to finish their new parish hall.

The Legion's executive should hand over their surplus money at the end of each year to a community-based committee. That committee could then decide how to spend the Legion's profits from alcohol sales. They might decide, for example, that promoting responsible use of alcohol might be a wise investment.

But having other people spending the Legion's money won't solve Iqaluit's alcohol problems. So who can help?

For starters, people at next week's community wellness conference in Iqaluit could talk about sobering up the community before trying to heal it.

Mayor Joe Kunuk could also resurrect the Mayor's Council on Alcohol Abuse. That group could meet regularly with representatives from Iqaluit's, er, hospitality industry, including hotels and restaurants.

The meeting could also have a representative from the RCMP, the justice system, social services, the women's shelter, the drug and alcohol treatment centre, Upassuraakut, local churches, and someone to represent elders and youth.

That way, the bar and restaurant managers and their staff can hear about the chaos that breaks out in the community after they close their doors. To blame the alcohol servers for all those problems is foolish. But to make them more aware of the devastation of alcohol abuse in their own community is essential-and long overdue.

There are many people in this town who don't abuse alcohol, but whose lives are disrupted by those who do. They too deserve to have a say about what goes on in establishments that serve alcohol.

If the drinkers don't know when to stop drinking, and if the bars, restaurants and hotels don't know when to stop serving, eventually, the community will decide for both of them. TP

These materials are Copyright (C) 1996 Nortext Publishing Corporation (Iqaluit), and may be freely distributed throughout the Internet, or other electronic computer networks or bulletin boards, as long as this notice remains intact and the articles are reproduced in their entirety. These materials may not be reprinted for commercial publication in print or other media without the permission of the publisher.